Pardah

A newly-wed couple faces cross-roads in their relationship, as the husband tries to impose his idea of appropriate clothing for the wife.
Synopsis
Pardah: A cloth used to cover or hide. Here it refers to the veil that women wear to hide their body.
The story revolves around a newly-wed couple who are still getting to know each other. They are new to each other’s’ idea of freedom, thought & expression.
Mehak (Fragrance) & her husband are starting this new phase of their lives. They have to complete registration for their marriage but the events of the very day poses deep questions for them about their future life as a whole.
As the day proceeds, Mehak finds her husband imposing his own thought of life on her by suggesting her to wear Pardah (Veil) properly. Equipped with all contemporary luxuries of the world, Mehak still finds herself entangled in the mind whether she is truly free. A simple yet an impactful test of her trust and confidence in the freedom of thought is challenged by her husband through her clothing choice.
As the day comes to an end, the husband in an attempt to justify his acts over the day tries to reiterate the importance of “PARDAH (Veil)” to her. But in the scheme of things he chooses to side-line and crush, Mehak’s idea of life. Faced with the challenge to her way of being, she protests at the denial of her identity and a very simple right to choose her own clothes. The husband in his self-righteous fury and in an attempt to establish his dominance over the relationship takes an unusual frantic action.
This episode of her life makes her question the very basis of marriage, whether she knows her husband, her surrounding, her thoughts, her life understandings. She is pushed to the edge of her thinking, on whether to accept or protest or just run-away from the situation.
In such a situation she takes heed of her husband's words on the concept of Pardah (Veil), and utilises the same as a tool to express herself where she feels that her husband is an unknown person to her. She hides herself from this unknown person by wearing Pardah.